STORRS — While there were many discouraging things that came out of Sunday's victory over Cincinnati, the one really positive thing was the continued aggression that Breanna Stewart played with despite having a poor shooting game.

Stewart notched her fourth consecutive double-double as she scored 12 points with 12 rebounds. She shot only 4-for-15 from the field, but she remained aggressive.

"I think as long as Stewie is getting shots — which I was a little disappointed in, because I didn't think she and Stefanie got enough shots today, but that is another issue — but as long as we are getting those guys enough attempts, you can't control whether or not they do in some days," said coach Geno Auriemma. "But the defensive part, the rebounding part, all those things, there shouldn't be a variable in that. Maybe they go in, maybe they don't. Those are things you go through all the time, and she is getting better at those things."

Stewart's four straight games with a double-double is the most for a UConn players since Tina Charles accomplished it in 2010.

"It is something that I think I should be getting for my team," Stewart said. "I should have double figures in rebounds every game and hopefully points. I just need to keep being aggressive on the rebounding end of things."

Stewart said the one big improvement she wanted to make over last year was to be more aggressive consistently. She was pleased with Sunday's game from that perspective.

"I think that it just helped me realize, my shot isn't falling so I still want to be aggressive shooting the ball, but at the same time I want to try to impact the game in other ways," Stewart said. "I don't think it is hard. I think the way the coaches have helped us in practice, they have put the pressure on us to do other things, to get rebounds, to get steals, blocks and whatever. And you want to just do that to help your team. And some days you don't shoot the ball as well as you would like, but you still have to be aggressive with it."

Interesting revival: Nothing seems to come easily between UConn and Notre Dame, so why would you expect the renewal of their rivalry to be any different?

Both sides went back and forth claiming their school wanted to play and the other was balking. The UConn side of the story is that the Irish asked about playing, and the Huskies said they had to figure out what their new conference schedule was going to entail first. The Huskies then went back to Notre Dame to inform them they wanted to play once they found room on the schedule, but Notre Dame backed away.

After some banter back and forth, a two-year deal was finally struck beginning next season.

"I think this game is probably more important for Connecticut than us," McGraw told the South Bend Tribune. "The conference they're in is not as strong as the ACC."

UConn coach Geno Auriemma was not amused so he offered a bit of sarcasm in return.

"Notre Dame was a little bit more difficult to put the thing together," Auriemma said. "But I did see where Muffet said that we need the game more than she does. So I really appreciate them giving us the opportunity to play against them. I don't know where we'd be without their help these last 10 years or so. So any time you get a chance to play the University of Notre Dame I don't think you can pass that up. So we're going to take advantage of it and go for it."

DePaul game: Auriemma said it was much easier to strike a deal to play DePaul again, because the Blue Demons head coach Doug Bruno is much more easygoing and willing to play.

"That was (DePaul coach) Doug (Bruno) coming up to me and saying, 'I really want to continue the series, and if there's any way that we can do it,'" Auriemma said. "I said, 'Fine. I'll let (UConn senior women's administrator) Deb (Corum) know, and you guys can work it out.' I didn't care where the game was going to be played. He needed for the game to be here to balance out his schedule. So it was just a matter of getting a date here. So that was easy. That was painless."

No male practice players: The UConn women's basketball team routinely utilizes male students as practice players to provide added competition and to keep the Huskies from wearing themselves out with too much play. Normally, that means practices during the semester break can be a bit challenging, because the male practice players aren't around.

Auriemma said the team has handled it very well this year.

"We've got enough (players), and as a matter of fact it has been unbelievably competitive," Auriemma said. "Usually we worry about that, what to do during the break. But I think this break is going to be a lot different than a lot of the other breaks, because when we put 10 players out there without anybody else, it is pretty competitive. It has gotten pretty heated, and I like that."

Near sellout: The Huskies had only two sellouts all of last season, one at Gampel Pavilion against Notre Dame and then one against No. 1-ranked Baylor at the XL Center.

This season they haven't come close to playing in front of a full house yet, but they should Jan. 11 against Temple. That game is being played at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport. As of Sunday, there were only a couple hundred tickets left for the game against a Owls' team coached by former UConn assistant Tonya Cardoza.

The men's basketball team played in Bridgeport last week to a sellout crowd.

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